Submitted Comments on proposed draft language of The Unregulated Transfer of Adopted Children Act – March 24, 2021

Bastard Nation: the Adoptee Rights Organization

PO Box 4607

New Windsor, New York 12553-7845

614-795-6819 

bastards.org       bastardnation3@gmail.com       @BastardsUnite

____________

TO: David Biklen, Art Gaudio, UCL-UCT Committee

FROM: Marley Greiner, Executive Chair, Bastard Nation

DATE: March 24, 2021

RE: Submitted Comments on proposed draft language of The Unregulated Transfers of Adopted Children Act, March 16, 2021

Bastard Nation: the Adoptee Rights Organization is the largest adoptee civil rights organization in the United States. Below are our comments regarding the proposed Unregulated Transfers of Adopted Child Act based on the draft dated March 16, 2021.

I came into this discussion half-way due to computer problems, but am aware of the discussions that took place earlier and have submitted other comments. 
 
Old beliefs and old myths continue to be rehashed here. Adoptees and their adoption experiences continue to be de-centered in favor of institutional interests and the maintenance of the public face of the adoption and child welfare industry. Moreover, there seems to be continued disbelief in these draft discussions and drafts that some adoptive parents are abusive and neglectful—and dangerous. It’s even been suggested that this draft should pertain to all children, not just those who are adopted, although the draft committee was called to create a uniform draft law specifically to protect adopted children from unregulated re-homing.

As a result of this kvetching this probable final draft continues to minimize the problem of re-homing to favor potential abusers, service providers, and third-party interests.

We believe it is possible that some good can come out of this draft, but that good hardly covers the issues at hand, since the “solutions “come from above, with little input from the lived experience of the adopted class which will be most affected. The draft procedure itself has been flawed from the beginning, and that can’t be fixed.

Adoptees are not invisible or silent. We are on the cutting edge of social justice. We are at the intersection of race, sex, gender, economics, welfare, religion, reproductive rights, data control, immigration, globalism, and so many other issues facing the US today. Yet, we are nearly invisible in the discourse here. Even a casual visitor to social media finds hundreds if not thousands of adoptees—some of whom were re-homed– telling their stories and truths. They would have been happy to give input to the committee, though most have little faith in the legal and legislative system, which for decades has disenfranchised and ignored us.

Adoption is complex and confusing, both in its procedures and outcomes. I am genuinely not sure if the committee recognizes this fully.

Adoption is no longer a Mom & Pop business. It is an interstate and international multi-billion dollar a year industrial adoptocracy with lobbyists, contractors sub-contractors sub-sub-contractors, publicists, financiers, influencers, and hangers-on each taking a share of the pie. At this point, we believe that it is impossible to maintain the facade, as this draft does, that corruption and problems like re-homing can be handled on a state-by-state basis. We need federal legislation to stop re-homing, and I believe that other adoptee rights and adoption reform organizations agree that the time is past for piecemeal remedies.

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